


In order to build something new, you have to destroy the old

by AllegedFangirl (Maria2000)



Category: Real Person Fiction, Salem Massechusettes, The Crucible - Miller
Genre: Disobedience, Other, Punishment, for school, ghost story, just listen to the Devil woman!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-06
Updated: 2016-02-06
Packaged: 2018-05-18 13:56:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5930848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maria2000/pseuds/AllegedFangirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Devil has a plan for Earth.  He will create a new way of living, but he needs an ambassator - Abigail Williams.  But when she disobeys, he has a special punishment for her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In order to build something new, you have to destroy the old

**Author's Note:**

> This was a story for my English class. The assignment was to write a Ghost story about Salem witch trials or the Crucible (since not all of the book is fact).

Bleeding a little never hurt anyone, but bleeding a lot can kill...hopefully.  
Standing in a clearing in the woods, the smell of moist earth and the foggy light of the full me is bathing my skin; it is simply intoxicating. My skin crawls, reminding me of the scandalous but necessary act I am about to commit. I can feel him in the sour air around me. A putrid smell fills my nose, making my eyes water - sulfur. The Devil smells of sulfur, rum, and rotting earth. My cold hands grip the knife tighter.  
“What are you doing...all alone in the woods...young Abigail?” Behind me, he hisses through a wicked, toothless, grin, pausing to wheeze and cough.  
The Devil is a tall negro man, dressing a a long black coat and a top hat with skulls of shells on the rim. He has dark dread locks adorned with feathers and beads. Earth cakes his greying skin and he walks with a mahogany cane. He always looks the same; his skin decaying as if he crawled out of his gave - he probably did. Afterall, the Devil is eternal.  
I can hear his large strides approach me from behind, crushing dead leaves and sticks. His warm breath smells like decay as he caresses my shoulder with his claw-like hands, leaving small, raised marks on my skin.  
I shrug his hands off of me and turn to face him. “I intend to end my life tonight.” I glare at him, revulsion swelling in my every vein.  
The Devil’s smile turns to a frown of feigned concern. “Oh my dear Abigail! That is horrible...Why would you even think about leaving me? After all, you are my finest pupil, you know.”  
“I’d sooner serve John Proctor my head on a platter than become your slave.” I spit at his feet, holding the knife in front of my body, the point touching my belly. The weapon gleams in the moonlight, casting a beam of light at the fallen leaves.  
Laughing, the Devil moves closer to me, cupping my chin with his hand. “You little girl! Do you really think you can disobey me!? My young child, you are wrong.”  
“I am not yours; you do not own me, you filth!” I plunge the knife deep into my stomach, staring the Devil in his red eyes.  
My breath is caught in my throat, as my mouth opens in a frivolous attempt to voice my pain. Every nerve of my whole being is screaming. Thick blood pours from my body down the handle of the knife. Stumbling back, I trip on a fallen brack, landing, hard, on my back. I am shaking. I can feel the blood soaking my hands and dress, spilling over my sides onto the cold earth. Ever bit of my corporeal being is under attacked from excruciating pain and it’s final attempts to salvage what is left of my livelihood.  
Hanging from the last of my conscious mind, I stare listlessly at the sky. The moon swells, swallowing the black sky. The stars disappear; the trees and cold earthy floor dissolve leaving me paralyzed, suspending in space, surrounded by the moon.  
A faint and distant wheezing chuckle fills the air. It growls as if it is moving towards me from the opposite end of a large tunnel. “Abbigail, you must know that I do not tolerate disobedience.”  
The moon begins to dwindle. Above me the stars and endless sky return. Below me the ground appears. Around me seeds grow to full trees in seconds. And I am once again laying on the cold earth. My body stops quivering and the force pressing down on my lungs disappears. A warm wave of peace washes over my physical and spiritual being. I ask myself if I am dead, but how would I know?  
I sit up, using my hands to pat my stomach, desperately trying to find to wound. There is nothing on my stomach, not a hole going completely though, a large scar, not even a scratch. I hold my hands in front of my face, closely inspecting them; I am not shaking and there is no blood stained on my pale skin anymore. Slowly staggering to stand up, I look around at the nature around me. It is completely silent. Everything is eerily silent.  
I notice a tree across the clearing; the bark has been carved into. Slowly, breathlessly, I walk towards the tree until I am close enough to read the message. It says “HOW DARE YOU DISOBEY ME”. I step backwards, falling and landing on my back. I scramble to upright myself and I run, as fast as I can, out of the woods. Once I reach the edge of town I stop. No one is outside. Everyone must be inside, but why? Trying to calm my nerves, I attempt to take a deep breath. My lungs feel as though they are nothing but plaster molds, they do not expand or contract. I feel my chest for my heart. It is not beating.  
“Help! Somebody help, I cannot breath!” I scream, collapsing on the ground. “Help! I feel faint!” No one leaves the buildings, how could they have not heard my lamentation?  
I push myself off the ground, noticing that my hand got scrapped when I fell. I pull a pebble from deep in my flesh. I expect blood to come pumping from the injury, but it does not, there is not even redness or swelling or even pain. I wipe my hand on my dress, trying to forget about it as I break into a run, this time heading for my house. I encounter no one while I hurry. I run into my house, noticing that the fireplace has gone cold and no one is home. However, I see a book open on the table, I reach for it. It is the Bible. I look at the page. It says: “DISOBEDIENT” over and over, repeating until the end of the page. I turn to the next page, frantically. This one reads: “YOU WILL OBEY” in the same way. I drop the book and scream. I run out of the house, through the town, trying, in vain, to find someone.  
I run to the church, it is empty. Sliding into a pew, I kneel and pray. “Oh God, please help me! Why have you put me on this earth alone? I had to end my life or the Devil would have taken my soul and used me for his evil ways.” A sharp scratching emanates from the pew next to me. I open my eyes to see that an invisible form is carving another message into the wood. This one reads: “YOUR FALSE GOD CANNOT HELP YOU, ABIGAIL, YOU DISOBEYED ME AND NOW YOU WILL PAY FOR WHAT YOU HAVE DONE.”  
Jumping up, run out of the church and back into the clearing in the woods. “Where are you Devil!? Show yourself! I am done playing your game!” My voice echoes through the air. through the trees. A cold wind whistles through the branches of trees, as it it is mocking my screams. My yells are not answered. I slump against a tree, kneeling on the ground. I so desperately long to sleep but it does not come.  
The sun rises and I am pulled out for my sleep-deprived haze from a familiar voice.  
“Young Abigail...you called for me?”  
“What have you done with the people of Earth? Where have you hidden them? Bring them back to me!”  
“Silly little Abigail. Don’t you realise? This is not your Earth. It is a special little purgatory that I have made just for you.” The Devil grins and begins to walk away.  
“Wait!” I yell at him and he turn so my curiously. “How long will I have to stay here.”  
Chuckling, he chirps, “Oh, just get comfortable. You’ll be here for a while”  
“You Bastard!” I run towards him, reaching for his neck, but before I can reach him, his form dissipates.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sun has long since died and swallowed the earth in a fiery haze. Nothing is left on the face of this planet except scorched earth. Our protagonist, young Abigail Williams has be nothing more than a pile of dust, her bones being grinded by the sandy winds of her planet. But fear not, Read, Abby is not dead or gone. She still keeps her consciousness. She can feel and smell, and taste, and hear everything. Oh, why just imagine, she probably felt a great deal of pain, both physical and emotion, watching her body deteriorate for millennia while her mind stays as sharp as a tack.  
The Devil made sure that he future would always be this way, a conscious mind without a body, forever being driven deeper into insanity. All he wanted to do was create a new way of living, a Paradise on Earth you could call it. But Abigail stood in his way and he had to punish her.  
Afterall, in order to build something new, you have to destroy the old.


End file.
